How much did the rent go up (or down): October 2017 edition

Editor’s note: This article was first published October 3. It has been updated with information from additional sources.

Median rent in Seattle, by all accounts, has gone up. But how far—and the actual dollar figure—vary depending on what data you’re looking at. The summary: For a one-bedroom, it’s anywhere from $1,320 to $1,870.

Apartment List (AL)’s number tends to be a little lower because of different methodology. Their goal is to figure out what median rent recent movers are actually paying without skewing toward luxury listings. They incorporate both listing and census data into their calculations.

AL’s estimates for studios ($1,190), one-bedrooms ($1,370), two-bedrooms ($1,700), three-bedrooms ($2,470) and four-bedrooms ($2,940) are virtually unchanged from last month, with typical decreases ranging from $10 to $20.

Overall, Seattle’s rent actually went down about half a percent compared to last month. But year over year, it went up 4.5 percent.

The state as a whole followed a similar pattern—just a little lower overall. Ranging from $1,010 in median rent for a studio to $2,470 for a four-bedroom, rent is slightly down month over month and up about 5 percent year over year.

Other Seattle rent estimates are a little higher and a little more volatile. Apartment-listing site Zumper pegs our median monthly one-bedroom rent at $1,870—down about 4 percent month over month but up about the same year over year—or $2,500 for a two-bedroom.

Listing site Abodo says our median one-bedroom rent is $1,765, or $2,398 for a two-bedroom.

Meanwhile, a recent landlord survey by apartment market data firm Dupre + Scott found that average studio rent in Seattle is $1,400, $1,770 for a one-bedroom, or $2,010 for a two-bedroom with one bathroom.

Home-listing site Rentcafé, using data from Yardimatrix, calculates average rent overall regardless of apartment size at $2,016, up 7.3 percent over last year but holding steady since last month.

In the wider metropolitan Seattle-Everett-Bellevue metro, according to apartment data firm Axiometrics, average rent overall—again, that’s regardless of bedroom count—is $1,850. While that’s a 3.6 percent jump over this time last year, the company’s release notes that by Axiometrics data, it’s the lowest annual jump since September 2010.

For clarity, we’ve compiled various estimates below.

• October 2017 Seattle Rent Report [AL]
• Apartment List National Rent Report [AL]
• Zumper National Rent Report [Zumper]
• October 2017 National Apartment Report [Abodo]
• Seattle rent hikes slow amid apartment boom, but average two-bedroom tops $2,000 [Seattle Times]